NOT FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

ALBERTO CHAN-SON, 

Petitioner, 

 v. 

MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney 

General, 

Respondent.

No. 20-73526 

Agency No. A206-092-900 

MEMORANDUM*

On Petition for Review of an Order of the

Board of Immigration Appeals

Submitted March 10, 2022**

Pasadena, California

Before: WARDLAW and HURWITZ, Circuit Judges, and MOLLOY,*** District 

Judge.

Alberto Chan-Son, a citizen of Guatemala, petitions for review of a decision 

of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) dismissing his appeal from the order 

* This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent 

except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.

** The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision 

without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).

*** The Honorable Donald W. Molloy, United States District Judge for 

the District of Montana, sitting by designation.

FILED

MAR 14 2022

MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK

U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
2

of an Immigration Judge (“IJ”) denying asylum, withholding of removal, and 

protection under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). We deny the petition.

1. Chan-Son claims that he will be persecuted in Guatemala because of 

his membership in a social group of “indigenous victims of crime unable to obtain 

police protection.” He asserts that he was assaulted in Guatemala, received death 

threats demanding money, and could not report these threats or abuse to the police 

because he is indigenous. The IJ concluded, however, that Chan-Son had failed to 

establish a nexus between any past or feared future persecution because of his 

membership in a protected group. 

The BIA correctly found the IJ’s decision supported by substantial evidence 

in the record. Chan-Son testified that he was attacked because his three assailants

knew he had a fruit stand business, and wished to extort him for money. He did not 

know whether he was persecuted on account of his race or membership in a 

particular social group, and did not know the identities of the men who attacked him. 

Without a nexus to a protected ground, Chan-Son’s asylum and withholding claims

fail. See INS v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478, 482–83 (1992); see also Zetino v. 

Holder, 622 F.3d 1007, 1016 (9th Cir. 2010) (“An alien’s desire to be free from 

harassment by criminals motivated by theft or random violence by gang members 

bears no nexus to a protected ground.”).

2. Substantial evidence also supported the denial of CAT relief. See 8 
3

C.F.R. § 1208.18(a)(1). Chan-Son never reported his abuse to the police, and neither 

his declaration nor his testimony compel the conclusion that he is more likely than 

not to be tortured by or with the acquiescence of a government official if he returns 

to Guatemala. Although there is evidence of societal discrimination against 

indigenous groups in Guatemala, the government’s ineffective investigation or 

prevention of crime does not constitute acquiescence in torture. See Andrade-Garcia 

v. Lynch, 828 F.3d 829, 836–37 (9th Cir. 2016); see also Aguilar-Osario v. Garland, 

991 F.3d 997, 1000 (9th Cir. 2021) (finding that public officials did not acquiesce to 

torture when the “police never learned about [the] harm [petitioner] suffered”).

PETITION FOR REVIEW DENIED.